


She Waited For Him

by firstdegreefangirl



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Blankets, But also, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kojo - Freeform, Late at Night, Let's be honest, Literal Sleeping Together, Sharing Clothes, Sleepy Cuddles, Tim has the BIGGEST heart eyes for Lucy, and Kojo, but not for ages, but she's got a key, but still a great dog-dad, he's a reluctant dog-dad, pure fluff, she doesn't live with him yet, soft, they're co-parenting the dog, they've been dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: Tim slides the house key into the lock of his front door, careful not to let the other keys jingle too loudly as he pushes his way into the living room.She’s rolled on her side, facing the back of the cushions. It strikes him as odd at first, the way she’s left her back open to the room instead of laying on her other side.Then he looks at her a little more closely, sees how her chin is angled up where it’s propped on the arm nearest the door.
Relationships: Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Comments: 17
Kudos: 192





	She Waited For Him

**Author's Note:**

> whoops, start to finish in under 24 hours? me? shocker lol
> 
> I've been sitting on this idea a little over a month and finally had time to sit down and write it out exactly how I wanted to, just in time to follow up on the finale last night! 
> 
> Enjoy!  
> xoxo

Tim slides the house key into the lock of his front door, careful not to let the other keys jingle too loudly as he pushes his way into the living room. 

He should have been home four hours ago. Instead, it’s just shy of 1 a.m. as he’s bending down to quietly unzip his boots and leave them by the front door. He’ll bring them back to the closet in the morning, but the rubber soles squeak against the linoleum floors and he doesn’t want to make any more noise than he has to. 

As he stands up, he realizes that Kojo hasn’t come to greet him yet. Usually the dog is on Tim’s feet as soon as he’s in the house, whining and wiggling for a walk or a treat or a pat on the head. He’s surprised at the quiet, until he walks far enough into the house to see over the back of the sofa. 

Kojo’s tail thumps against the arm when he sees Tim, but he makes no effort to get off the furniture, even though he knows he’s not allowed up there. 

Tim doesn’t blame him though. He wouldn’t move either, if he and Lucy were tangled together on the couch. She’s rolled on her side, facing the back of the cushions. It strikes him as odd at first, the way she’s left her back open to the room instead of laying on her other side. 

Then he looks at her a little more closely, sees how her chin is angled up where it’s propped on the arm nearest the door. 

_She was watching for him to get back._

There’s a blanket strewn across her body, and Tim is sure she started out tucked completely underneath it. 

(He didn’t even have a sofa blanket when Lucy started coming over, but now he does: a soft, cream-colored throw that she brought over one day, new in its packaging. 

“You didn’t really think I was going to sacrifice one of my blankets for your house, did you?” She’d said when he raised his eyebrows as she opened it up. “C’mon, you’ll see, this will make movie nights so much better.” 

She’d been right, and he’d been forced to reluctantly admit it. He almost never uses it when she’s not over, but he can’t think of anything better than sitting on the couch, with his feet propped up on the coffee table and Lucy tucked against his side, her legs draped across his thighs and the blanket tucked around them both.) 

Except maybe getting to see the way she looks now, passed out with the blanket wadded haphazardly around her legs. He’s sure she rolled around, trying to get comfortable facing the door so she could see him as soon as he walked in. The blanket would probably be on the ground, if not for Kojo lying on top of it, tucked into the bend of her knees. His head is resting on her thigh, and one of her hands is dropped on top of it, like she’d been scratching his ears when the sleep finally overtook her. 

He recognizes the shirt she’s wearing too, hanging loosely off of her frame, as one of his old Army tees. There was a time after he’d come home from his last tour when he’d considered getting rid of them all, the acrid taste of VA medical care fresh in his mouth and making it hard to want to advertise his so-called “service.” 

But now he’s incredibly glad that he let Isabel talk him into folding them into the back of the closet, hanging onto them until the wounds were a little less fresh. If he’d have thrown them all away, maybe burned them in his backyard like he’d wanted to, then he’d never have gotten to see Lucy wearing one, the fabric stretched thin where he’d nearly worn it out in the gym but bunching over her shoulders where she’s smaller than him in every way. 

His eyes glide down to the waistband of the sweats she’s wearing, and he can’t help but smile at the way it’s rolled thick around her hips. He can't see her legs, between the blanket and the dog, but he can picture the too-big pants, can imagine her rolling down the waistband to adjust the length and make the top small enough that his sweats won’t fall off of her body. 

Because of course she can’t wear the pants she’s always leaving behind when she comes over. He rolls his eyes, thinking about how many times he’s pulled a pair of jeans out of his hamper that won’t even come close to fitting him, tiny gemstones on the pocket rivets. 

They’ve never talked about it, but he knows she’s aware that the bottom drawer in his dresser is mostly filled with clothes she’s left behind. 

And still, she’s wearing his clothes. Laying on his couch, positioned to face his front door, waiting for him to come home. 

He knew she’d be over, had reminded her again this afternoon that he gave her a key so she could use it. By the time she’d texted him to ask, he could already tell he wasn’t going to clock out on time, but he’d hoped it would only be an extra hour or two. So he’d told her to let herself in, take Kojo around the block and make herself at home. The later it got, the longer he stood at the edge of the accident scene, directing traffic around a fatality pileup, the more frustrated he became and the more he was ready to get home and see Lucy. 

She’s never asked to come over before, not when she knew he wouldn’t be there. She’ll let herself in with her key if she knows he’ll be home, but otherwise she still texts first to ask if she can drop by. So he’s spent the evening wondering if something had happened, if there was a reason she needed him tonight. 

But none of that had been on his mind when he’d finally been released from the scene at a quarter past midnight. The only thing he could think about was how much he wanted go home and drop into bed with Lucy. She's got a shift in the morning, and so does he, even if Grey is giving him an extra two hours before expecting him back at the station. Exhausted or not, he’d spent the drive home trying to work through or compartmentalize enough of his frustration to come in the door without disturbing her. 

And now he’s standing in his living room, wearing his socks and holding his keychain by the keys themselves so they don’t jingle, staring at Lucy asleep on his couch, waiting for him to get home. 

It’s only then, as the full strength of the realization hits him, as he realizes how easy and domestic they’ve become in the last 12 hours, without even trying, that he notices the TV flickering behind her. When he pauses for a moment and makes himself listen, he can hear the volume down low, and he looks up to see some home improvement show rolling across the screen. That's another giveaway, making it even more obvious that she was just waiting on Tim. Lucy’s never watched HGTV a day in her life, as far as he knows, and certainly never when she’s been at his house. 

No one has ever waited for him to come home before, save for his mother when he missed curfew in high school. He and Isabel almost always had matching OT during their training days, and not long after that, he started waiting months at a time for her to turn back up in their bed. On the rare nights that she was home and he wasn’t, she was always happy to wrap herself around him when he settled under the covers, but never had a problem going to bed before he was home. 

Lucy waited for him. She let herself in, using the key he’d given her, knowing that he wouldn’t be there, put on his clothes, and fallen asleep on his couch, waiting for him. 

None of it should feel as monumental as it does; they’re dating, they’ve been dating and he’s made room for her in his life. It shouldn’t be a big deal that she’s taking up the space he’s opened for her. 

But it is anyway, and suddenly he doesn’t want to wake her up. He wants nothing more than to get into bed with Lucy, curl himself protectively around her and wait for the alarm to go off way too early in the morning. But he doesn't want to wake her up to make that happen. 

He knows she’ll regret the couch, though, if he lets her stay there until morning. Her back will pop, her neck will ache, and he’ll hear about it for three days. Even if he massages the tension away and fills his bathtub with the fancy salts she likes, he’ll have to hear about how he robbed her of a night in his bed, made her sleep on the couch. 

He’d listen to it in a heartbeat, if he had to. But there’s an easier solution right in front of him, one that ends with a quiet night spent under the same covers. So he lets his work bag drop from his shoulder and squats down as he reaches forward to scratch Kojo’s ears, letting his fingers bump against hers. 

Kojo whines, and Tim shushes him softly. 

“Hang on, we’re waking Mom up. I’ll take you out to pee before bed.” Kojo whines again, but makes no move to get up, even when Tim pulls his hand away. 

He glides his fingers up Lucy’s arm, pressing just firmly enough that she can feel it and squeezing her shoulder with a slight jostle. 

She groans, turning her face into the side of the couch and Tim feels himself smile. 

“C’mon, Luce, you’re not even going to say hi to me?” He feels her shoulder shift underneath his grasp, trying to shrug him off. “I know, but they wouldn’t let me off the scene. Just got home, baby.” His fingers brush through her hair, smoothing it away from her face “Want to go to bed?” 

She mutters something that sounds like it might be an attempt at “no.” and rolls back over. This time, her legs move enough that Kojo stirs, hopping down to the floor. 

“Kojo.” His tone shifts to be more authoritative, but he keeps the volume quiet enough not to disturb Lucy too much. “Door. I’ll be there in a minute.” 

As expected, Kojo trots over to the foyer, nails clicking on the floor, and Tim turns his attention back to Lucy. She’s laying on her stomach now, and the movement trailed his hand to the back of her head. 

He wiggles his fingers a little bit, massaging her scalp before he runs his hand down to her shoulder blades and draws wide circles around them with his palm. 

“I know, I know you’re tired. Me too. How about we get you down the hall, I’ll go take Idgit around the block and we’ll join you in bed.” 

“He’s not an Idgit,” she protests, lifting her head just enough to get the words out. “He’s Kojo and I love him.” 

“He’s alright,” Tim responds, with enough affection in his voice for Lucy to know exactly what he means. “But not when he needs out at 1 a.m. and I want to take you to bed.” 

She rolls over at that, flopping onto her back to glare at him. 

“You love him and you know it.” 

His hand is on her sternum now, feeling it rise and fall with every breath. 

“Yeah, I do.” He pulls his hand away to stand, pushing off of his own knees before offering his hand back to Lucy. “Now how about we get you all tucked in, and I’ll take Lovebutt around the block.” 

“You can call him Kojo.” She takes his hand and lets him pull her to her feet. 

“I know.” As soon as Lucy’s feet are on the ground, she’s tucking herself into Tim’s chest, curling her arms around his shoulders. “Just don’t want him to get the idea that 1 a.m. is an appropriate time for walks. Can’t be too soft with him, let him forget who’s in charge.” 

“He’s cute. He can be in charge.” By the sound of her voice, she’s still fighting sleep. But Tim feels her smile against his chest when he chuckles. 

“You saying I’m not cute, Boot?” 

“Nope. You’re rugged. Sexy. Handsome, even.” She turns her face up to stare at him without leaning away. “Kojo’s cute.” 

“Whatever you say.” Tim rolls his eyes and grins at her, tilting his chin down to kiss her forehead. “C’mon, bed’s waiting.” 

“Mmm, bed.” Lucy ruts her face back against his shoulder, and he knows she’s not going to let go of him long enough to walk down the short hallway. So he lets her cling to him, steers them both carefully toward the bedroom. He’s walking backward, glancing over his shoulder only as often as he absolutely must to check for rogue dog toys or women's’ sneakers. 

(Why nobody but him can put anything where it belongs in this house is a mystery, but he doesn't care to fall over backwards tonight, so he checks anyway.) 

He leads her into the bedroom, guides her to sit at the end of the mattress and kisses her nose when he pulls her arms from around his neck and she whines. 

“Sit tight. I’ll be right back.” 

He hurries back to the front door, pats Kojo on the head as he clips the leash to his collar and shoves his boots back on. 

“Good boy. Now, if you can do your business and be back inside in five minutes, I’ll give you an extra treat, OK? Your mom and I need some sleep tonight.” He opens the front door, and as much as he knows that dogs don’t understand full sentences, he could swear that Kojo knew what he said. Because they only make it as far as the mailbox before he stops and hikes his leg. 

Tim sighs, ready to get back inside and lay down, and praises Kojo for his good listening skills as they turn back up the driveway. He unclips the leash and reaches into the glass biscuit jar on his kitchen island. 

“You earned it, bud. C’mon, lets go see where she’s at.” 

When he gets back down the hall, Lucy hasn’t moved from where he left her, except to tip backwards and spread out across the mattress. 

“Sure you want to stay all the way down there?” He pulls his shirt over his head and trades his jeans for a pair of plaid pajama pants. “More power to you, but I’m going to sleep on a pillow tonight.” 

Tim offers her his hand again and when she reaches for it, he tugs her up the length of the bed, pulling the covers out from underneath her. 

“Hang on, give me two more minutes.” He spreads the blankets over her and stops off at the bathroom to brush his teeth on his way back around the bed before he flips the light off and lays down beside Lucy. “Alright, here we go.” 

He didn’t need to say anything, though, because as soon as his body hits the mattress, Lucy is rolling over again. She plasters herself back against his side, curling an arm on his chest to pat his collarbone sleepily. 

“Good. Like it better when you’re here.” He’s pretty sure she won’t remember saying it in the morning, can tell how close she already is to being asleep again. 

But he also knows it’s a moment he won’t forget for a long time, the way his heart swells when he runs his hand over her hair, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing her forehead. 

“Yeah, I like it better this way too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> And thus begins the hiatus. But I'm choosing to look at it as an opportunity to catch up on all the fic I haven't had time to write yet. 
> 
> Lookout for, among other ideas, one where Tim follows Rachel to New York ... 
> 
> xoxo


End file.
